Hi,

Like Emery said maples do grow well in Los Angeles. I live in Los
Angeles and all my Japanese maples are in containers. I know of a
gentleman who grows maples, both in the ground and in containers in
the San Joaquin valley area.

When you water containerized plants apply water till you see it start
to drain from the bottom. Your wooden container should have drainage
holes. If not drill some or find another container with adequate
drainage holes. When the top inch or so of soil is dry water your
plant. After a while you'll get the hang of how often to water your
plant in the coming seasons. Right now with temps in the mid 70s I'm
watering my 5 gal. maples about every 3rd day and my 1 gal. maples
every other day. My maples get direct sun from about 12p to 5pm. When
it gets hotter I'm going to have to increase the frequency of my
watering. 1 quart of water every day *might* be the problem depending
on the type of soil you have. Then again 1 quart may be too little
water and not enough water is getting to the smaller feeder roots that
are deeper in the pot. I'd advise you to get a good book on container
gardening, or better yet get a beginner's book on bonsai. While you
may not take up the hobby basic bonsai techniques like pruning, root
pruning, and transplanting apply to good container culture. Sunset and
Ortho books on bonsai are good and can be found at any garden center.

Riding in the back of a truck may have caused it depending on how hot
and dry the air is and how long the ride was. I still think it's a
watering issue. It's been my experience working at a nursery that over
and under watering plants is the main reason for most otherwise
healthy plants dying. 1 quart a day makes the soil on the top of the
pot look moist but I'll bet if you stick your finger in the drainage
holes you'll see the soil is dry because the water is soaking into the
top layer and not getting all the way down to the bottom of the pot.

Also I'd like to address Emery's advice to look for a graft scar to
determine if you may have a true to name Bloodgood. A tree having a
graft doesn't always mean it's true to name and a clonal offspring. I
have seen MANY so called Bloodgoods that were grafted yet were not
true Bloodgoods. It is a sad fact that the Bloodgood line is seriously
diluted.

Hope this helps,

Layne

On 19 May 2006 07:59:34 -0700, wrote:

Thank you all for the great information!!! we did bring the tree home
in the back of our truck, so leaf burn from wind would be a good guess.
When i said we were watering everyday, it is about 1 quart of water a
day which we thought would be ok. Is that too much? It is in a wood
container, i think it's 18". I will cut back on the watering a bit, and
just keep an eye on it and see if it gets better or worse. thank you
all again for your help.